49 random things I’ve learnt from corona virus

Written by Chris Taylor, Oasis Associate and Director of Oasis Foundation

1.    No amount of training in psychology, group dynamics, sociology or disaster planning have prepared me for the real thing.

2.    Toilet paper is apparently the most important resource in a crisis.

3.    Stress is a magnifier. It exaggerates our idiosyncrasies.

4.    Some people are incredibly compliant in an emergency. Others have a tendency to test the boundaries of the rules.

5.    I’m definitely in the latter group.

6.    Most folk are remarkably generous and are eager to help others in need.

7.    You can go from being a “low skilled worker” to a “key worker” overnight (supermarket delivery driver, food production worker).

8.    This feels like being valued to some and like a slap in the face to others.

9.    One of the perversities of late-stage capitalism is that it’s the lowest paid workers in any part of the system who turn out to be the most essential.

10.It pains me to feel the impact of lockdown on kids – not being able to get out, play and have physical contact.

11.Not hugging folk is driving me mad.

12.We are incredibly scared of illness.

13.We are even more scared of death.

14.If we don’t overcome this fear we will always be prey to tyrants and the unscrupulous.

15.There is always a conspiracy theory.

16.This usually involves the US, the Illuminati or both. (And they’re out to get the rest of us.)

17.I’m loving the way people are going online to offer their support to others for free.

18.Who knew yoga for kids, band/choir/orchestra rehearsals, counselling or book clubs could all work (well enough) online?

19.The new killer question for finding your true purpose in life is going to be “What did you do for other people during the pandemic of 2020?”

20.This will not be the last (or worst) pandemic we’ll face in our lifetimes.

21.Novel diseases will become more common as we push nature to its limits and increasingly come into contact with stressed and unhealthy animal populations.

22.I’m secretly using Covid as an excuse not to do the stuff that I never much enjoyed.

23.I’m actually enjoying the slower pace of life.

24.Tai chi and qi gong are far more use in helping people stay calm than any words or reassurances I could offer.

25.The limit of three of any item in a supermarket is really tough on large families.

26.If you like beans you can get round it by buying borlotti, pinto, black bean, three bean…

27.People really love the outdoors. They can’t stay away.

28.We intuitively know Nature is a healer and protector.

29.Saint Corona is the patron saint of pandemics. She was murdered by the Romans pretty much at the epicentre of the European Corona crisis, in Northern Italy.

30.Cleaning out the cable box, the junk drawer, old paperwork is strangely compelling in the circumstances.

31.There are only so many drawers and boxes in my house.

32.Sorting my screws and nails by size is a step too far.

33.When faced with a crisis, there can be a tendency to regress. My neighbour’s five year old refused to speak and turned into a barking fox for a while. My youngest son, now in his twenties is playing Lego Harry Potter on the Wii.

34.Most of Netflix is unfulfilling dross.

35.Sometimes that’s what you need.

36.Do not be tempted to look at the value of your pension or stock-market linked savings account during a global emergency.

37.Our destinies are all now a little more entangled in capitalism than is comfortable.

38.Nature recovers incredibly quickly when we stop rushing about so much.

39.What it will take to restore Nature to its full splendour is an almost complete shutdown of the current global economy.

40.Our current forms of government are adept at instituting control. So they work (reasonably) well for a pandemic.

41.They are completely unable to address deep rooted or complex social problems like poverty, climate change or the plagues of world hunger, air pollution or poor sanitation.

42.Some leaders will use a crisis as cover to do the most unscrupulous and unpopular things.

43.We are all bound to get a little tetchy (even more than usual) due to the stresses involved.

44.I’m strangely calm about the prospect of having no income.

45.Maybe I trust the Universe to provide.

46.Or maybe I’m in denial…

47.People are scared at the prospect that what’s coming might be like this but much worse.

48.Three things have become most important to me (or perhaps always were): the people around me, time in Nature, daily tai chi and meditation practices.

49.And maybe writing…laughing…music…birdsong…good food…the sea…